codlasher

Yes, have a lovely festive time matey! codlasher

I've just read the article. I saw the original post too. I feel for him in a very difficult situation and hope things improve. codlasher

Untouched 1859 Victorian farmhouse. Open on all sides to the elements & 9" solid walls. We had a grant to insulate the roof-space so there's 300mm (a foot in old money) in there. Cat slide roof now has 75mm thick cellotex/ecotherm/kingspan foil sheeting, foamy glued to the underside & likewise all the upstairs walls. Super warm. Love the silver as it reflects all the daylight colours:001_rolleyes: 3610 Morso wood burner in the old dairy room with a hole cut into the ceiling above so the heat rises & providing the stairway door is open a 'heat circuit' operates. This hole has a grate over to stop the children falling through, likewise all the floors upstairs are covered with plywood as the woodworm have been active for many a year and we fell through on several occasions:thumbdown: Funny that the staircase has none at all, which is good. Tasteful concrete fire surround (Not!) in the living room housing a open Baxi type fire with back boiler for all our hot water needs. Works well and no issues with power failures as it is on a 'direct' gravity circuit £65.00 per year for the gas cooker (one 47kg propane bottle) and 15 odd tons of cordwood to heat for the five of us here at present. Nothing else! codlasher

One of my pet hates is high tensile wire. I always argue for quality galvanised instead and move up a size if possible I know for a fact that in 25 years time some poor fellow (if they even care to) is going to have to pick up the pieces of HT wire. Not a pleasant job, nasty sharp, rusty little lengths just waiting to spring into your hand/leg and thats not even thinking of the animals it's supposed to keep in...... Another thing to consider is the lifespan of the fence posts in relation to the wire used. Unless the posts are treated to BS 8417 with the WPA benchmark guaranteeing treatment fit for purpose you will be having post failure within four years....To me that is not acceptable. codlasher.

I agree with testcricket01. If the fellow hasn't the courtesy to ring you, particularly when he knows you are on site waiting and tell you that he is running late or to re schedule the meeting, he is a rude man. This attitude will probably be reflected in all dealings regarding what he sees simply as 'manual' work! AKA Harry Enfield's 'Considerably richer than you' character! Steer well clear would be my feeling too. Ask a busy person to do a job but treat him with respect too:biggrin: codlasher

Thank you for the pictures and comments:biggrin: codlasher

As the owner of an elderly Posch machine I can honestly say that there are no issues with build quality or back up. I even suggested one if these tilting machines to a friend recently but I have not heard if he has looked any further yet. If I did not have a processor myself to keep me in the firewood that keeps my house warm in cold weather and the water hot all year I would certainly be looking in that direction. Age also has a lot to do with this as well. I certainly don't want to be handling the end product more than necessary so the conveyor loading facility is important to me. At 30 this is not really an issue:001_tongue: At 50+ it certainly is:biggrin: If you get a lot of sticks and bendy bits of timber that are easily handled I think this is the way forward and seems to be a lot easier than messing with a chain saw. Chop and chuck into the pick-up/trailer, what could be simpler? I made a decision not to go down the route of oil or gas for heating and at present keep things as simple as possible. This has proved to be the right one for our lifestyle so far, although wood pellet becons in the future:thumbup: codlasher

Andy Collins. I agree totally with your last line; "(I feel discussing this in a correct and proper manner may help eventually move this forward, hopefully the right people in the right places may even come across such a discussion on this forum? Who knows? We can live in hope.)" I have taken a step back from the firing line to do a 'five year plan' for my family. By dong this I can almost see the wood for the trees. I do find it a very rare occurrence now days to find an Agent who is courageous enough to even mention the word 'disagree' with any authority, it is a mine-field out there and keeping ones head down, gathering the grants and doing everything 'by the book', is simply the easy thing to do. I think the days when country gentlemen/land owners got their hands dirty or knew their contractors by name is, sadly, long gone. The result is this layer of indifference that one has to comply with! Those who were the above seem to be either too old to argue any more or six foot under. Being the eternal optimist I do live in hope! Using the correct method and the best tools to do the finest job should NEVER be questioned, or be dismissed by inappropriate ruling, that is simply WRONG. Those who are advocating anything contrary to this should be questioning their position and supporting, not condemning, those doing the work. Codlasher

Lovely!

In answer to the Q about CAT scanners tracing plastic pipe. The answer is NO. If there was a wire trace it may have picked that up. On the other hand I did dig up a very thick 'phone cable buried less than 8'' down a while ago. I took pics similar to the OP, argued my case and won, ie, NO bill! Codlasher.

I went on a 'firewood/enhance your timber value' seminar at a Forestry Estate in the Cotswolds about seven years ago. We were shown various methods of sale, along with the usual 'processor' and bag/tipper method. One that stood out was the 'billet' method. This was one way in which to sell 4' lengths. There was a long stack of 4' billets with divisions. Each division was roughly a car boot load. You could drive in and self load, pay your money and process this yourself at home. You could buy any amount of divisions. You could also have them delivered but I didn't look further at this as I liked the simplicity of the collection method as in this way you weren't, as vendor, getting involved with all the handling that deliveries and issues that are then raised. From a vendors point of view this seemed like a good idea. Codlasher

When I was in training, too long ago to even think about, there wasn't even such a thing as a 'small saw' and us lads (two of us) certainly would never have been allowed near such a machine aged 15. We did all the snedding, behind the 'feller' with an axe and all cutting with a 'bushman' saw (bow saw). We also had horrible blunt hand saws to prune the young Beech & Oak. These worked, like all British saws, on the push method, so were heavy, not easy to use and clogged up very quickly. This is the main reason I am such a supporter of these lovely pieces, each carefully tailored for its specific job with a plethora of blades and tooth settings. What more does a person need to do finer work. I even have a selection in my 'carpentry box' for when I do wood-work! I would still argue that by the time the chain-saw operator had dressed, filled the saw and checked the teeth for utmost sharpness, started the thing and actually got to work, a hand saw operator will be at least four young trees ahead. I would think too he would stay ahead all day too, also not have arm and shoulder ache. There is still a place for the motor manual operator in the team, as I expressed earlier, with felling and larger branch cutting. By careful observation and teamwork the job could probably be enhanced and therefor speeded up, but keep the chain-saw away from pruning! Codlasher.

I regard early formative pruning as a very skilled pastime and in my opinion it should only ever be done with a hand-saw. Aren't we lucky now with the advent of such superb pruning saws, topped of course by Silky and their range. The worst thing you can do to a young tree is to attempt to prune it with a chain-saw. In my opinion this is butchery! You have to carefully cut where the coronet finishes and this will allow for a clean heal in the future. By undercutting the branches in this way the scar is then minimal. Using a chain-saw certainly does not speed up the process and this method does not make for clean cutting either. There is an argument to have a chain-saw nearby and available for the bigger branches but not as the main tool. Hand pruning is also the most pleasurable past-time as there is no noise, no environmental damage and you are working much closer to the young trees so can be really accurate with your actions. If looked at in this way who is going to make the better of the work? Whoever is advocating chain-saw use and the lack if skill needed in hand-pruning really should not be in charge of overseeing the attention of valuable young stock. My advice would be to go over this persons head to the woodland owner or agent, if there is such a person and strongly state your case. Good luck. codlasher

Some years ago my fathers partner acquired a briquette machine in a buy out along with a number of saw-milling machines. I was asked to help and dispatched to collect two 45 gallon drums of hydraulic fluid, from the local ag supplier, to fill up the reservoir. As an experiment it was set up to produce briquettes with the available sawdust taken straight from the pile that the cyclone extractor produced. The end product was normally a 3" x 8" briquette. The machine produced, what looked like a number of fine looking briquettes, but after every sixth or eighth stroke there was a rapid build up of heat in the form of steam which propelled the briquette being produced some 40' down the full length of the building and impacted on the sliding door at the end. The mouth of the machine being at roughly knee height! A bit like a small howitzer shell:001_rolleyes: As I said earlier 'available sawdust'. Now this was the big drawback, shame really, but after many impacts on the bottom door the decision was made that this machine was really only meant to produce briquettes from DRY sawdust such as came from a joinery shop. A sawmill and the wet, diesel impregnated sawdust that was being produced from the timber milling was unsuitable. The machine was sold on. As an end to this story, the briquettes were the type that suppliers dread As soon as they were put on a fire they expanded so much they almost put the fire out. As least the experimenting was done 'in house' so no upset customers. I suppose the moral would be that the best briquette is produced from a dry base! codlasher.

We all know oak for its weight and durability. Larch is a very durable softwood, I would always want it for shiplap boarding. Western red cedar is better and lighter though. This is the choice for shingles. Hazel suffers from wood-worm attack so beware. Ash floor boards move a lot, sycamore boards are lovely so are beech. When we supplied timber to an earlier form of TRADA, research found that best outside timber was 'treated' sycamore! Not a lot of people know that. Now don't take my word for this anymore as the 'treatment' today really only seems to be green food colouring! I have some sycamore garden furniture that was cut in the 1970's by Mr West at Saunderton Sawmill. This was 'treated' in the old liquid (arsenic et al) and is still sitting outside as I write.....That's how it was supposed to be:biggrin: agg221,I love to hear that you continue to 'educate' authority with your building project! codlasher

You could try these people; Instant Hedge | Specimen and Semi Mature Trees | Tree and Vegetation Clearance | Tree moving - Practicality Brown Ltd They have a good range of kit. codlasher

I can't see the 'fell every tree' scenario, as we still have Elm that has grown up from the root systems, that remain active and very much alive, in the hedge bottoms. These still reach the crinkly bark age and then die aged 15ish years, standing some 30' tall. How come, with all the advances in human medicine, there has not been any advance in finding a cure for this one? I know the stand at Westonbirt as I visited 25 years ago. These are still going strong, as far as I know (and hope:biggrin:) codlasher.

My 2p's for all it's worth! My dear old Dad spent quite a lot of time in the 1970's with cutting, milling and selling vast amounts of Elm (all from those enormous old hedgerow trees, now forgotten, except in pictures). Ercol's made many pieces of fine furniture from this timber having perfected the '3 ply' method of manufacture. There aren't many pubs within a 50 mile radius of High Wycombe without at least one Ercol piece. The '87 & '90 gales kick started the timber industry again with masses of cheap hardwood available and much also came in from Europe complete with the pin hole beetle:thumbdown: I am optimistic, although sad about the potential landscape changing loss this latest infection will have on us. Optimistic as it will make folk much more aware of the dangers of plant infection and also there will be a positive outcome as with all disasters, although it's too early to speculate yet. The spring bloom will perhaps be the most depressing time. Looking round today at the Ash near to me I really can't tell yet if the infection is rife. This is mainly due to the majority of trees having lost their leaves some ten days ago....No sign of any die-back either, but I'm probably too early. codlasher

We had a week of daytime road-closures so the pressure to get the job moved on at the end of each day was considerable. There were three sorting tasks after the felling. Haul the bigger timber away to a suitable place, pick up and remove all the stacks 2.0m cordwood (anything down to 1 1/2" top) and clear the brash. If the site allowed, the tractor simply pushed up a pile onto the road edge and beyond. If not the little petrol driven Timberwolf 125 was called upon and did a superb job. It did not need to be towed once on site as it was light and nimble. :biggrin:I was impressed with its ability to cope with most things that were fed into it. As has been pointed out anything at 4" is a firewood log and, in my opinion, should not be wasted. codlasher.

I was involved in milling one some years ago. It was a fine piece if timber with knots evenly spaced. It went to make kitchen cupboards and other similar items. If you can find a miller and the storage space, consider turning it into 12' x 8" x 7/8" planks. As good as money in the bank and something lovely to look at. codlasher.

skyhuck, That's exactly what I thought! My heart was racing! Codlasher.

From what I can see in your pictures you will be able to do this with a set of lights. Not being cocky or foolish. There are TM companies who will advise on signage and will supply the equipment. They will not advise on the tree work, simply the TM part, mind. I can help as I'm a fully qualified TM and have much experience with this type of thing. No wind up! I have just finished some 75 miles of roadside tree work. The 'organising' and 'seeing job through to the end' part. (And 30+ years in the business) Please PM me for an informal chat and proof of my qualifications if you like. Currently based in North Sunny Suffolk. Codlasher

How about the best 'timber tree' to plant on softwood clear-fell sites in England. There will be a time in the not too distant future when this will have to be addressed. I always put in a fair proportion of Douglas wherever I could as I regard this as my personal favourite along with Wild service. My old boss had a sense of humour and put in the occasional Sequoia and other unusual types....I used to warn the harvester drivers not to cut these as I want to see them when I'm older. Where I used to work (and planted some 35 years ago) there are stands of larch and other species that will be in the clear fell agenda. These are also original Beech stands. Crop rotation was the key then and I'm sure it is the key still. Just longer term than a farmers crop! Codlasher

Reading this post and trying to answer the OP. I'm assuming you are looking at the newer orange and green machine which has a few modifications from the original blue and white one. Little improvements to the orange and green made quite a difference. These were; Better bearings & carriage for the blade. This enabled harsher treatment was absorbed into the metal. The belt adjuster was improved too. A hydraulic ram was fitted to the splitter and this speeded up adjustment as and when the size of billet changed. The return bar became solid instead of hollow. This stopped it bending. The original frame remains the same and is well proven after 25+ years of production. These were designed for cordwood and I understand the frustrations with arb type wood with the bends and size restrictions. Perhaps a chain-saw machine would better suit but these have their own issues! I am a Posch fan and have had good service from mine and have provided many tons of cordwood over the years to the newer machine that a colleague operates. I have only seen the latest 350 at the APF and was impressed by its capability but £20k is a lot of money:biggrin: I think the handling/supply side is much overlooked. Yes, by all means cut a piece of cord in half to feed the saw, but this is not really maximising the capabilities of your processor....The whole idea is to work this machine at or near its capacity producing firewood, and this is where a log handling system comes in. Just getting your produce up to the hight of the in-feed hopper is a start. Having an hours or 1/2 a days stored at that level is even better. You are then just processing firewood not messing about with a chain-saw or lifting heavy objects! This maximising of productivity also justifies the initial monetary outlay. The storage of the end product is a personal choice so I won't look too closely at that. I agree with the 'getting used to your machine' comment. Again this is down to research of the most suitable type. What I have noticed over the years of going to the APF, and I've only missed one, is the increase in; 1, firewood processors and; 2, log handling equipment to feed, store, convey and hold. Who would have imagined these fantastic net bags ten years ago:thumbup1: Resale is a big consideration too. Posch is up at the top of the list in second -hand values too which is often a big decider. I hope this helps you with your decision. Codlasher.

DEFRA may help with this. Is there a SBI number and a Holding number? If so then you can then do just about anything! Grow ragwort, keep masses of rabbits and have rusty machinery in your nettles. To be honest I don't think it really makes any difference to your business except from the grant side. The Woodland Trust are offering a 60% grant towards Farm woodland schemes to help with shelter belt establishment and similar. Minimum planting area is one acre, good news there! I'd go with the 'buy and enjoy' if you can afford it. Can't help with mortgage though except to say that a watertight business plan will help :-) Good luck. Codlasher.